The present invention relates to projectile targets and, in particular, to an electronic projectile target.
The invention has been developed primarily for use as firearm projectile range targets and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of use and is applicable to other projectiles, for example, arrows.
It is now becoming known to use electronic targets in shooting ranges. The use of electronic target allows a shooter to fire projectiles at target and not have to physically retrieve the target or observe this through the use of binoculars or a rangefinder in order to determine the location a projectile hits the target.
It is crucially important in competitive shooting tournaments to measure the position a projectile hits the target with as great an accuracy as possible. Whilst observing the targets at close range achieves this purpose, it will be appreciated that someone must necessarily do this. The use of electronic targets therefore removes the need for people to determine the position projectiles hit the target and also to retrieve the target in such cases.
Various electronic target devices have been developed, and it will be appreciated that a distinct problem of providing a projectile target is that the target gets shot, thereby damaging it. An array of sensors disposed over the face of the target would each be damaged or destroyed by a projectile passing through it and so a simple two-dimensional detector on or over the target face is of little practical value.
It is also known to address this problem by using up to four sound sensors to sense the sound waves generated by the impact of the projectile on the front face of the target or by measuring radially propagating ultra-sonic waves generated by the projectile travelling through the target. These prior art targets are sufficient for providing a rough estimation of the location the projectile hits the face of the target, however, they are not reliable. For example, the prior art targets are prone to designate a miss when not the case or a position that is significantly different from actual to change score.
In addition to the prior art targets and systems lacking in accuracy of shot detection, many other problems are known to plague the prior art. For example, connecting and replacing targets is cumbersome and there are significant costs in acquiring and installing associated componentry such as cabling and patchboards. The known electronic target systems are incapable of accurately and dynamically correcting for sensor error. These errors simply propagate. Further, those systems do not always capture the sound wave by the projectile but may be interfered with.
The genesis of the invention is a desire to provide a projectile target that will overcome or substantially ameliorate one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.